What’s good everyone,
Today I’m delighted to share very, very good news: my band The JuJu Exchange has released our first full-length album, BEHOLD, available exclusively on the platform Even. Having worked on this thang for over 6 years, I can confidently say that BEHOLD contains the most blood, sweat and tears of any project I’ve ever been a part of to date. I’m speechlessly thankful, alongside my brothas Nova Zaii and Nico Segal, that it is now out in the world.
True to form for our group, BEHOLD is an instrumental project that blends acoustic and electronic worlds, weaving between dense melodies and ethereal soundscapes. In The JuJu Exchange, you never quite know what’s coming next, and that’s part of the thrill of the ride - that is, staying tuned.
The project’s name stems from my study of the Hebrew word הִנֵּה (hinneh) in seminary. In Scripture, the writers used the word hinneh to draw attention to the existence of a person, place, or a thing. My Hebrew Bible professor Joel LeMon said that writing hinneh was akin to pointing at something emphatically to signal it existed. Translators defined it in English as lo or behold (and it’s similar to “¡mira!” in Spanish), but the word ironically defies translation because the gesture is beyond speech. It’s an invitation that we can accept only by training our attention.
Learning about hinneh in seminary resonated with my understanding of instrumental music, of the compelling invitation that music without words extends to the listener. The jazz and classical traditions that birthed me have shaped me to appreciate those wordless gestures, but I never questioned until seminary why listen to this music that has no words. After all, what does a C major chord mean anyway?
I ended up writing for my master’s thesis about wordless improvisation as a gesture to the infinite. Compelling creativity draws one’s attention into mystery, the ineffable, that attunes our hearts to engage God’s ineffability. In retrospect, my thesis was writing about hinneh, about the contemplative practice that we all engage in when listening to music. It’s all about paying attention.
The JuJu Exchange started during seminary and remains a key way I continue exploring the connections between contemplative faith and artistic practice. To that end, this record is a celebration of God’s gift of attention to us. In a world where our attention is radically diffuse and undervalued, this project was made with the intention to help you, to help us, attend. The songs don’t have specified meaning beyond that; rather, we made them in the faith and hope that what needs your attention will come into view a bit better because of what you hear from the three of us and the bevy of collaborators we gathered into the exchange.
I am reminded of Mary Oliver’s iconic line: attention is the beginning of devotion. As you listen to Behold, I pray that you pray. May this record help you listen to yourself, to your neighbor, to God.
(To that end, as an aside, here’s a fellow Black contemplative Substack writer, Rose J. Percy, who writes beautifully about attention and intention in the digital age on her substack a gentle landing. Rose’s pen is indeed a gentle landing.)
A note on the host platform for the record, Even. We’ve been releasing tracks a few at a time on streaming platform services to date, including Somebody Caught Me and Sunlike/Prisms. But Even is special because it is a place where the artists get paid directly and so we wanted to first release the project there before putting it all out on streaming platforms. The record costs $2 at minimum to download, though you’re welcome to pay more if you’d like. from our heart to yours, thank you for listening.
Leading up to this release, we recently did a video shoot and recording session with the company Audiotree here in town. Above is the video for the big dance track from the record, Purely. You can hear Purely and three other songs from our catalogue on streaming platforms, and here is where you can watch the whole recording session straight down. (The interview from the Audiotree joint was a hinneh moment indeed.)
We hope that all of this music from the BEHOLD season helps you dance, cry, reflect, release, and every other verb that you need in this season. As always, thank you for listening.
abundantly,
Julian
P.S. Stay tuned for my review of Sinners Part 2, coming next week. Thank y’all for engaging Sinners Part 1 last week.
What’s Next
May 16 The JuJu Exchange at Sleeping Village (Chicago)
May 17 w/ Zach Finnegan at Andy’s (Chicago)
May 24 Solo piano at 2pm at Budlong Library Branch, 5630 N. Lincoln Ave. (Chicago)
May 30-31 Notes of Rest Inaugural Retreat (Oregon, Illinois) SPOTS STILL OPEN, registration closes May 20!
June 1 w/Ethan Philion; Julian Davis Reid & Circle of Trust at Green Mill (Chicago)
June 10 Notes of Rest at Pastors, Priests and Guides (Greater Chicago)
Jun 17 w/Kenneth Whalum at The Promontory
Jun 18 Notes of Rest & Circle of Trust at Chicago State, at Dorian’s (Chicago)
Jun 20-1 Notes of Rest at Renovaré ReGathering (LaGrange, Georgia)
July 14-18 Notes of Rest Hybrid Class at Vancouver School of Theology (registration closes Jun 1)
Recent Releases
BEHOLD by The JuJu Exchange (May 2025)
BUST (Music Inspired by the Original Play from Zora Howard) (April 2025)
Sunlike (from The JuJu Exchange) (Apr 2025)
Notes of Rest Hymns, Vol. 1 (Apr 2025)
The Last Days of Cabrini Green (Music from the Audible Original) (from me, Feb 2025) (Listen to the Audible Podcast here)
Thank you for the shout out, Julian!